|Reuters

(Reuters) - Australian swimmer Cate Campbell broke the women's 100 meters freestyle world record at the Brisbane Grand Prix on Saturday, sending an ominous warning to her rivals at next month's Rio Olympics.

The 24-year-old clocked 52.06 seconds to better German swimmer Britta Steffen's previous record of 52.07 seconds set seven years ago during the now-banned synthetic swim-suit era.

The London relay gold medalist beat her previous personal best of 52.33 seconds to claim the first individual world record by an Australian since the supersuit period.

"It happened when I least expected it. I still can't believe it happened," Campbell was quoted as saying in the Australian Associated Press.